My Inaugural Autumn

0.8, f18, ISO 200
Figured I'd start with my favorite from the day ;)

I've been so busy I haven't had time to share any fall color photos, and it's definitely winter now in the mountains of East TN! It's no exaggeration when I say that for about 6 weeks I was obsessed with capturing all the pretty foliage. I just about wore myself out with all the hiking every weekend!

Some dry weather at summer's end caused this year's foliage to apparently be less than stellar, according to locals. However, I am not accustomed to seeing orange and red fall color. Growing up, fall was something that happened far far away, in the photos and mountains of Colorado and the Smokies. But this year, I actually got to see it myself for the first time and I was blown away! So while everyone else was like "meh, it's just not that pretty this year..." I was literally driving off the road going home because I couldn't stop staring.

Today's pictures are from about a month ago, and were taken at the Tremont Institute in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It's the first time I've gone since moving to TN, and while getting through Pigeon Forge was a headache, the trip was very worth it. I met with a group of amateur and professional photographers and we spent the morning capturing streams, leaves, and even river otters! I tried to soak up as much knowledge as I could from these folks - they were all so nice and so willing to talk and share advice. One kind lady even gave me an old polarizing filter she no longer needed, which helped my pictures a great deal that day since it was rainy. I also learned how badly I needed a tripod, so please forgive the fuzziness in some of these. I was literally trying to balance the camera either on my knee or just my chest for all of the stream pictures!

By the way...these were taken with a Canon Rebel T3i.

Date of Trip: October 11th, 2014

1/10, f7.1, ISO200

My first shot of the day. Not bad. I'd like to think I got better as the day progressed though....
It was a very misty day; the rain literally stopped right before we headed out.

1/40, f5.6, ISO400

1/25, f5.6, ISO400

I like this view but was not in a stable enough position to increase my shutter speed. This is where my butt got wet...

1/20, f5.6, ISO400

1/40, f5.0, ISO400

The colors don't translate well onto the web, but this was another one of my favorites.

1/20, f5.6, ISO200

0.8, f25, ISO200

Experimenting with long shutter speeds. Same stream as first picture, just in portrait.

0.3, f20, ISO200

Same stream again, but zoomed in. Playing around with composure - I was told that I tend to include a lot in my pictures and that I could actually get good shots by focusing in on a smaller section of the scene.

1/2, f22, ISO100

Another favorite, but it's a little fuzzy. Taken off the side of a bridge.

0.8, f22, ISO400

Scene off the other side of the bridge.

And it just wouldn't be me if I didn't bombard you with bridge pictures...

1/15, f5.6, ISO100

1/25, f5.6, ISO400

1/10, f5.6, ISO400

...and a trail picture

1/13, f8.0, ISO400

Oh and here's that otter!

1/20, f5.6, ISO400

He's a bit fuzzy - both he and his friend were moving fast and the longest I can go is 55mm, so this is a seriously cropped photo.

This was actually a meetup for macro photography. I didn't have a macro lens so the majority of my pictures were ones like I've shared. I did get some fairly decent macro shots though and will be sharing those soon!